CHARGES VS. SIX WHO PROTESTED FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE DROPPED

San Diego 
Charges were dismissed Friday in the case against six same-sex marriage activists accused of blocking the operation of a county office during a 2010 protest.

The San Diego City Attorney’s Office filed a motion requesting that the misdemeanor charges be dismissed, saying the case had been pending for two years and each of the defendants had remained law-abiding during that time.

The defendants received eight hours of credit for the time they spent in jail.

Superior Court Judge Joan Weber granted the motion.

Defense attorney Gerald Blank, who represents one of the activists, said he and his client had long asserted that the prosecution was doomed from the start.

“The demonstrators were acting in the lawful expression of their First Amendment rights,” Blank said. “I believe the court would have found that to be true.”

The lawyers appeared in court Friday for a status conference, during which they expected to discuss the process of jury selection for the upcoming trial.

Attorney Dan Greene said he appreciated the prosecution’s decision.

As for his client, Greene said: “I think the process made him very mindful of what it means to stand up for your rights.”

One of the defendants, 39-year-old Sean Bohac, said he felt relieved and vindicated when he heard news of the dismissal. He called the experience “an expensive hassle.”

“Really it’s about the struggle that’s going forward,” said Bohac, a member of the steering committee for the San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality. “We’ll be organizing again on the same issue in a different way.”

Nine people were arrested Aug. 19, 2010, during a protest over the passage of Proposition 8 — California’s same-sex marriage ban — and the appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that declared the initiative unconstitutional.

The activists staged a sit-in at the County Administration Building and demanded marriage licenses be issued to same-sex couples who had appointments that day.

Prosecutors offered the defendants a deal last year in which they could plead no contest to an infraction, complete volunteer work and have their cases dismissed. Three accepted.

The others prepared to go to trial in May, but the judge dismissed the panel of prospective jurors, saying the City Attorney’s Office violated the defendants’ rights by challenging the selection of a gay man to serve on the jury.

Prosecutors disagreed with the judge’s ruling. They said their case focused solely on whether the defendants unlawfully blocked the operation of the County Clerk’s Office.